No, Beans, it's not Monday. Sarge had a bit of bad news and decided to take a break in posting. I had a post in the works, so I'm going to post it today instead of Monday.
Here's hoping the Blogger Guardian Angel has another posting idea he'll send me.
Anyhow, here we go.
I was thumbing through the side bar on the blog a day or so ago. I was looking at all the postings and what categories there were. Good Gravy, there are a lot of them. Most are Sarge's, but a few are mine. Monday being my main category and is #1 on the list. (Just in case you want to look at old posts I wrote. Hey, I think I got better as time went by.)
In any case, while trying to come up with ideas back then, I ran across a video that had been taken in the mid-80's. One of the pilots in my squadron was a photography buff and this was about the time that movie cameras became affordable and didn't weigh 5 tons. Still a bit heavy though when pulling G's and you may notice that in the video.
So, I came across this video and decided to watch it again. "Why" you may ask?
I was the pilot in the jet. We had a couple of D models (2 seaters) assigned to the squadron. One of them (78-564) had my name painted on the canopy rail. Having come from a 2 seater background (T-37, T-38, F-4C, F-4D, F-4E, and AT-38), the squadron commander asked if I'd mind being assigned a 2 seater. The jet could be set up to fly solo, the back seat just had to be secured. So, I said "Sure".
I flew that jet every time I saw it on the schedule. I was a squadron scheduler at the time. My crew chief and I got along quite well. I actually got a chance to take him up in "our" jet, but that's a story for another time.
My jet, with me in it was the camera jet for the film. And the ground shot of the preflight was my jet and I'm in one of the scenes. All inside the cockpit shots are in my jet with me doing the flying thing.
Yes, I got a little sentimental when I looked at this film again.
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But, she is still flying, if no longer in the fighter business. She's assigned to NASA. Good for her.
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So, for your education and entertainment....
Enjoy!
Very gently flown was it? 😎
ReplyDeleteThe “Fighting” G limit was 8. Actual limit was 9. If you pulled more than that you had to RTB and the jer would be grounded until carefully inspected and released by maintenance. A human head weighs 20 lbs. At 8 g’s it was 160 lbs. so Yes, gently flown from 0 to 8 g’s. Whatever it took getting your adversary in the pipper with the gun camera running. I’ve been both, the movie maker and/or the movie star.
DeleteYes both the jet and I got a good workout on virtually every flight,
juvat
The “Fighting” G limit was 8. Actual limit was 9. If you pulled more than that you had to RTB and the jer would be grounded until carefully inspected and released by maintenance. A human head weighs 20 lbs. At 8 g’s it was 160 lbs. so Yes, gently flown from 0 to 8 g’s. Whatever it took getting your adversary in the pipper with the gun camera running. I’ve been both, the movie maker and/or the movie star.
DeleteYes both the jet and I got a good workout on virtually every flight,
juvat
My iPad had trouble waking up this morning.
Deletejuvat
Pour more coffee into it. With extra sugar.
DeleteOn my second cup. Heart has restarted. Brain is coming on line after second cup of coffee. I believe I’ll be alright. Thanks
Deletejuvat
An engaging choice this day, thought I recognized Van Halen even through the fog this bug has hit me with, thank you sir!
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure, was cleaning out my hard drive when I came across this again. I’ve now got several copies on different medias. For the Grand Kids.
Deletejuvat
Prayers up for Sarge and whatever he is having to deal with.
ReplyDeleteGood post, good photos, good film. Thanks.
He lost a good friend. Unfortunately.
Deletejuvat
Okay, so I have to ask...and be patient with me, remember I have no military experience...
ReplyDeleteHOW can you tell this is/was "your" jet?? I mean, it looks very nice, spiffy in it's NASA paint job, But the numbers on the tail have changed. Unless you had a chance to climb back into the seat and see where you scratched "juvat was here" on the dashboard someplace??
(Do jets even HAVE dashboards??)
How do you know it was yours?
If I am looking at a field full of cows, each one does have distinguishing marks, besides the ear tags I mean, but when I look at a line up of fighter jets, unless you can see the name of the pilot under the cockpit sill (rail?)or the number on the tail...they all look pretty much the same...at least to me.
Just curious.
Sending hugs to Sarge on his loss. That is the hardest thing about getting older...instead of going to lots of weddings, I seem to be going to a lot of funerals, or seeing names of people in the paper and on-line of folks who I admired who are now gone.
Suz
Suz,
DeleteNo worries. I knew it was "My Jet" because they painted my name and rank on the canopy rail (the bottom gray metal on the canopy). I also recognized the Tail Number (78-564 Built in 1978. I'm not sure how they come up with the 3 digit tail number. There certainly weren't 564 F-15s built).
Dashboards? Hmmm, would you accept Instrument Panel? Essentially it's mission is much the same as your car's dashboard. Speed, Fuel, Engine measurements etc. Plus a lot of mission specific indicators. Where the "Bad Guy" is, Range, Altitude, Airspeed and quite a bit more.
Yeah, the do look pretty much the same and just like a car some of them have quirks in the system. Crew. Chiefs do their darndest to find them and fix them, but sometimes they're lucky, sometimes not. Word of the "Glitch" goes around both the pilots and the ground maintenance guys at the speed of light. And if the Glitch is serious enough it goes home to a very large maintenance facility where it is kept until the problem is fixed and tested (Hard) and if it's not fixed, the airplane could very well find it on a pedestal at some Air Force Base's front gate.
As I said, Our Jet's maintainer was very qualified and hard working. I provided as much top cover as I could.
juvat
Juvat, the 564 is the sequence number of the aircraft produced in that fiscal year.
DeleteInteresting, but it can't have been the 564th aircraft produced. Any ideas about the numeric order meaning?
Deletejuvat
Thanks for the early post Juvat! I love the background music.
ReplyDeleteThanks THBB, so do I.
Deletejuvat
Interesting video. I can see where having a toy like that available for fun rides might be really great. Of course, the perspective on all that may be quite different for someone who just climbs in the back to enjoy the ride, and the guy (gal too, I guess) in front who has to work a bit to get to that point, including lots of repetitive non-fun stuff. Leave aside the fact that all that aviating stuff can be hazardous to your health. Never, ever, forget that that aluminum can only beat gravity for a limited time, and then only if the builders and maintainers get EVERYTHING right.
ReplyDeleteI'll be happy to watch you guys go fly.
Condolences to Sarge.
JB
Yeah, JB, you're absolutely correct, there is one other consideration. Hitting something. Birds can take out an engine. One reason I like twin engine fighters. Another is the probability of a kill by hitting the earth is very (very. very) close to 100%. Another one is hitting another aircraft. That one struck closest to home for me. Right after I flew my last sortie in the Eagle, the squadron deployed down to the Philippines for a multi squadron exercise. One of the guys in my squadron was involved in a mid-air collision. His aircraft crashed killing him, the other aircraft's pilot didn't know anything had happened until he got on the ground. His horizontal slab went through the canopy of the other aircraft, killing him instantly.
DeleteFlying fighters is fun and challenging, but you've got to have your head on a swivel and your wits about you.
juvat
Ah, I was kidding about the gently flown bit. I was thinking of the used car salesman selling an old car.
ReplyDeleteI am saddened to hear that our host lost a friend. It is the fate of the people God allows to grow old.
HMS D,
DeleteNo worries, this site wouldn't be nearly as much fun, it we couldn't pull each other's legs once in a while.
As to the latter, you're absolutely right.
juvat